摘要:食品安全事件因會同時影響食品業者與消費者,加入近代全球化貿易的推行,因此已變成全球最關心的課題之一。儘管全球大多數的食品供應情況大致無虞,但近年來幾件高知名度的案例(如三聚氰氨毒奶事件,食品微生物所造成的集體中毒事件…)的發生,有時暴露了食品污染與食物中毒事件對消費者的隱藏威脅。由於傳統測量食品安全指標的分析方法大多十分費時,或需要繁複的樣品前處理步驟,其分析效率因此被大幅降低。眾所皆知,當有食品污染或是食物中毒事件發生時,最為社會大眾每個人所關切的,不外是其目前擁有,或是正在食用之食品,是否安全。此時就必需有一能進行快速篩檢之分析工具或是分析方法,以應付短期內擁入之大量樣品。近年來,台灣因進口食品比率大量增加,政府為了確保食品安全事件發生時不至引發社會大眾之恐慌,並確保食品來源的安全性,則研發能快速篩檢食品中之微量化學添加物、微生物生物指標、麴菌二次代謝物、及基因改造食品之新型微量分析方法及檢驗試驗組實屬必要且有急迫性。而建立有效的食品安全快篩系統也將有利於提供高效管理食品安全責任的架構。
不同於飲用水,食品可以是固狀、液狀或泥狀。而在不同的狀態下,這些食品基質對分析效率的影響亦不同,故以單一套實驗或流程實難以對各種不同食品進行有效分析。本計畫擬應用不同現代分析技術包括:大氣壓力游離技術 (國立中山大學化學系謝建台教授)、親和質譜法(國立東華大學化學系何彥鵬教授)、免疫層析及電化學分析法、微脂體相關之分離及濃縮技術(國立清華大學化學系何佳安教授)、以及液相層析螢光分析法(國立台灣大學微生物與生化學研究所潘子明教授)等,建立有效且能快速對於不同食品之組成進行化學及生化分析之篩選平台。這些平台可以由上述兩種或是三種以上的特色分析技術組合而成,除了具有傳統分析技術之高分析效率外(包括偵測靈敏度及解析度等),其特點就是可以大大縮短對不同食品檢測的時間,如此才能達到維護國人吃的健康以及食品安全的目的。由於上述各項技術,均為各子計畫主持人實驗室所開發並獨有之技術,因此在進一步結合後,不僅可以大大提升分析平台之效率外,也將更具專一性,及國際競爭力。
Abstract: An adequate and nutritious food supply is essential to maintain and extend human life; however it can also pose a health risk from foodborne illnesses. Sanitary production, distribution, and consumer handling of food require knowledge of foodborne pathogens, chemical toxins, food quality, labeling, and food safety education. To ensure food quality and safety, the employment of user-friendly monitoring and surveillance of risk indicators in our food supplies to decrease the risk of exposure is a must. Therefore point-of-care sensing devices for rapid screening or high throughput instrumental methods for detecting/identifying adulterated chemicals, foodborne pathogens, mycotoxins or other chemical toxins, and genetically modified organism (GMO) are in urgent demand. Since our current system of food safety regulation is often unprepared, understaffed, or untrained for the rapid changes that have occurred in risk assessment, changes in production and distribution methodologies, and new foods and emerging pathogens. The platform technology for identification/quantitation of such food safety measures must be established before outbreak occurs. The primary significance of this proposal is to develop effective sensors and analytical plateforms for small molecular food contaminants, such as preservatives; adulterated chemicals; mycotoxin and secondary metabolites in toxigenic fungi; biomarkers for common foodborne pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus; as well as novel strategy for testing on GMOs that are often genetically modified by the insertion of an outside DNA into the plant`s DNA sequence, allowing the plant to express novel traits that normally would not appear in nature, such as herbicide or insect resistance.
Unlike drinking water, food is available as liquid, solid or even slurry. The interactions among the analyte and its matrix vary depending on sample forms, and the optimal experimental conditions may change a lot. Thus, it is impossible to find a single set of analytical approach to successfully characterize all samples. We herein propose to develop new high tech detection techniques and processes for chemicals, mycotoxin and bacteria or GMOs that incorporate principles from many different instrumental disciplines in order to improve food safety. The techniques that will be developed include laser-based ambient ionization mass spectrometry, affinity-based mass spectrometry, immunochromatography and immunoelectrochemistry, liposomic separation and concentration techniques, and liquid chromatographic-fluorescence detection. The analytical plateforms which integrate unique technology developed in individual PI’s laboratory will be established and used for food safety monitoring and surveillances. Ultimately we would like to construct those high tech tests simpler, faster, safer, and more effective. In addition, the development of such a powerful diagnosing system for food safety surveillance will makes us become the leading research group in this area.